The Ukrainian government has introduced the state of emergency in the war-torn south-eastern Donetsk and Lugansk Regions, and put all other territories on high alert, Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk announced.

"In accordance with
the Ukrainian Code of Civil Protection, the Cabinet of Ministers
has adopted a decision to recognize an emergency situation at a
state level. The Ukrainian government has decided to impose the
state of emergency in the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions,"
Yatsenyuk is cited as saying by Interfax-Ukraine.

According to the PM, the
move is aimed at providing the most efficient coordination of all
government agencies in order to ensure civil protection and the
safety of the population.

The statement was made
after the field meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, which took
place at the headquarters of the State Emergency Service of
Ukraine in Kiev on Monday.

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, has blamed Kiev for
trying to “derail the peace process” in the Donetsk and
Lugansk Regions.

"Time and time again, we’re seeing attempts by the Kiev
authorities to solve the problem by violent suppression of the
southeast. These are blind-alley attempts, leading to even more
casualties among the civilian population," he said.

Lavrov gave a reminder of an agreement to start withdrawing heavy
weaponry reached at a meeting of the foreign ministers of France,
Germany, Russia and Ukraine on January 21. Several days later
President Poroshenko announced the renewal of warfare.

“It would’ve been naive to expect that the militia forces
will remain idle when on the Ukrainian president’s orders
populated areas are being shelled … and come to term with the
fact that they’ll be bombed out,” Lavrov noted.

The foreign minister said that according to his understanding the
rebels began acting “in order to eliminate those positions of
the Ukrainian military from where their towns and villages were
being shelled with heavy weaponry.”

The Ukrainian conflict
began last April when Kiev launched a military operation in the
southeastern Donetsk and Lugansk Regions, after they refused to
recognize the country’s new, coup-imposed authorities.

The death toll in the Ukraine conflict has exceeded 5,000 people.
Over 10,000 have been injured, according to UN estimates.